Jest Fest!: Event draws curious residents, top artists

Monday

Apr 10, 2017 at 10:12 AMApr 10, 2017 at 10:14 AM

Christopher Baldwin @Chris_Baldwin

After swallowing a variety of trick swords — ones that rolled up like measuring tape or retracted upon pressure — Dan Meyer, a 40-time world champion sword swallower, set out to make those in the audience believe there was no illusion.

To make his case, Meyer even called on a doctor in the crowd to fact-check him as he explained how one bypasses the obstacles that human anatomy presents to the sword swallower and used blades of varying lengths and shapes, such as a serpentine sword that caused Meyer’s adam's apple to wiggle about as he swallowed and removed the sword.

Still, some weren’t buying it.

The city of Gainesville held its fifth annual Jest Fest! signature event Sunday at the Thomas Center. This year, the festival featured six main stage performance artists across four outdoor and indoor stages.

The free festival, which is funded through a combination of grant money and city funding, also featured numerous roaming entertainers, such as stilt walkers, puppeteers, jesters, magic-wand performers and one-man bands.

When sword-swallower Meyer asked if there were still skeptics in the audience, Al Huff, a retiree who lives in Gainesville, responded that he still wasn’t sure.

Meyer responded by asking Huff’s wife to join him onstage to help him remove a 24-inch sword blade from his mouth after he swallowed it and bent over so the whole crowd could look into his gaping maw.

With the feat completed, he asked the audience again if anyone thought it wasn’t real, to which the crowd responded with cheers and applause.

"I've seen a few other sword swallowers, and there were times it was more easy for me to believe that it wasn't real,” said Huff during an interview.

"Now I'm saying: If it’s not real, damn he's good."

David Ballard, event director, organized the first Jest Fest! in 2013, taking inspiration from his previous work as a performing artist and master puppeteer. Using his connections in the industry, he was able to book world-famous international acts in addition to local and regional acts for the event, which was partially inspired by the spirit of April Fool’s Day.

Ballard said this year’s festival is a particularly special one for him.

"It's our fifth year, and that's kind of fun,” he said, with a beaming smile on his face. “Kind of a bit of a milestone."

Jest Fest! originally began as a monthlong series of events held each Saturday in April, but it was moved to the Thomas Center a few years ago due to renovations at Bo Diddley Plaza.

That year’s festival was so successful that organizers decided to continue holding the event at the Thomas Center in its current format. This year marks the third year the festival was held at the center.

Some of the most renowned performers, such as the Flying Wallendas, a high-wire walking family famous for their world-record breaking performances, have long taken part in the festival and attracted event-goers from throughout the region.

Other returning performers included Avner the Eccentric, a silent clown known for his role as the Jewel in the film, “Jewel of the Nile,” and Arsene Dupin, a renowned silent clown and magician.

New this year was Meyer, who holds multiple Guinness World records and has been featured on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”

Bee Huff, skeptic Al’s wife, said one of the most endearing parts of Meyer’s show was the fact Meyer delved into his personal history in order to offer a positive message of hope for youth.

"I liked the message that he presented about being bullied and so forth,” she said. “It rings close to home in a lot of ways."

Other new acts included a performance of “The Ruder Mechanicals,” a comedic spoof drawn from Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” by The Thieves Guild, an acting troupe known locally for their living-chess performances at the annual Hoggetowne Medieval Faire, as well as performances by Allez-OOPS, a husband-and-wife variety act full of upbeat music, impressive feats and silly antics.

Ballard said it isn’t particularly difficult to land great acts for the festival each year.

"We have our big favorites, and sometimes they aren’t available,” he said. “But there's a lot of wonderful performing artists out there and we're just fortunate to have so many of them right here."

One big change this year, Ballard said, was a partnership with the Gainesville Fine Arts Association, which held an art show both inside the Thomas Center as well as outside in tents, along with the local organizations that frequently table the event.

Ballard said that since moving to the Thomas Center, the festival regularly sees about 6,000 to 8,000 event-goers throughout the day, though it’s difficult to know for sure as people tend to come and go throughout the day.

For Al and Bee Huff, who enjoyed Jest Fest! for the first time on Sunday, along with their son and four grandchildren, the festival was representative of why they love the city they live in so much.

"It's alive and vibrant," said Al Huff, referring to both the festival and the city.